1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to safes and, in particular, to an electronically-controlled gun safe which can establish telephone contact with law enforcement authorities when the gun safe is opened.
2. Description of the Related Art
The possibility that a child may discover a loaded hand gun and either seriously injure themselves or another has led hand gun safety groups to strongly encourage hand gun owners to secure their hand guns to prevent such an occurrence. Hand guns are typically secured by unloading the hand gun, placing a trigger lock or a similar disabling device on the gun, and then placing the gun and the ammunition is separate locations which are inaccessible to the child.
The problem with securing the hand gun in the above-described fashion is that many hand gun owners possess the hand gun for personal self-protection. When several minutes are spent retrieving a hidden key for a trigger lock, then several more minutes are spent retrieving the hidden gun and ammunition, and then several more minutes are spent removing the trigger lock and loading the gun, the utility of the hand gun for personal self-protection is significantly reduced. Intruders typically will not provide an individual with a ten minute warning prior to an assault.
One secure method of maintaining a loaded hand gun is to store the hand gun in a safe. Safes provide an obvious degree of protection from children as well as thieves. Although safes provide security, most well-known types of safes have one of several significant disadvantages.
First, safes which require the manipulation of a mechanical tumbler to open the safe can take a significant amount of time as well as physical dexterity to open. The time and dexterity required to manipulate a mechanical tumbler make these types of safes are unsuited for situations where a quick response time may be important.
An electronically-opened safe which typically utilizes a "telephone-style" keypad for entry of the combination, such as the safe described in Fogleman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,394, provides a significant advantage in that this type of safe can be quickly opened by entering a simple key code.
Second, regardless of the opening method utilized, safes are typically bulky and constructed from a heavy metallic material which, in addition to providing a secure environment for a hand gun or other valuables, deters a thief from removing the safe so that the safe can be broken into at a later time. Because of the very nature of bulky and heavy safes, they are typically stored in remote hidden locations which can structurally support the safe and which also make quick access to a hand gun unlikely. Although possible, it is difficult to imagine that many hand gun owners would opt to place this type of safe next to their bed at home or in a visible area at work. Thus, there is a need for a gun safe which utilizes a electronic opening, which is relatively compact and lightweight, and which also deters a thief from removing the safe for later entry.
Third, in an intrusion or other emergency situation, when access to a hand gun is an appropriate response, law enforcement authorities typically recommend that they be immediately contacted and that direct confrontation with an intruder or other emergency situation be avoided when possible. While it is common in the art to incorporate automatic telephone message systems into security systems, such as a burglar alarm, the automatic telephone system is only activated when the security of the system has been breached. Thus, if a safe with an automatic telephone message system is properly opened, law enforcement authorities receive no notice of a potential emergency situation. Therefore, there is a need for an electronically-opened safe which can be used in a manner whereby law enforcement authorities are contacted anytime the safe is under urgent conditions opened.
Automatic telephone message systems are typically limited to signalling that a security breach has occurred. Direct communication with law enforcement authorities that an intruder or another emergency situation is present is more likely to ensure a rapid response, as compared, for example, with a burglar alarm which may be treated as a false alarm. Thus, there is a need for an electronically-opened safe that automatically contacts law enforcement authorities when the safe is opened and which provides a method for direct voice communication,
Finally, current gun safes, whether electronic or manual, can become useless if the key code or key is lost. Thus, some provision must be made to allow for access to the gun safe where a key code has been forgotten, without losing any degree of security once such a provision is known.